This invention relates generally to automobile fuel tank accessories and more particularly concerns holders for automobile gas caps.
Widespread acceptance of consumer operated gasoline pumps has introduced the consumer to a frustrating new problem. What do you do with the gas cap while you are filling your tank?
Some consumers place the cap in the hinging apparatus associated with the fuel tank access door. This eventually results in nicks and corrosion on the access door or the exterior surface of the automobile due to contact with the rigid portions of the cap or from the corrosive effects of gasoline deposits on the cap. Other consumers place the cap on top of the gas station fuel pump or any other flat surface that might be available in the vicinity of the fuel pump. Gas caps placed in such locations during refueling are not infrequently left in those locations as the consumer drives away. Less frequently, but more costly, the caps collect some of the loose dirt and grime found around gasoline pumps which eventually find their way into the gasoline tank and sometimes into the fuel line, causing inefficiency in and perhaps complete blockage of the fuel line.
Some automobile manufacturers have sought to overcome the problem by providing a chain, strap or tether which connects the gas cap to the fuel access port. While such devices prevent the inadvertent loss of a fuel cap, they are generally either too long, causing further chipping and corrosion problems, or due to the inherent design of gas tank openings, it will hold the cap in line or adjacent the refueling process allowing the cap to become wet with fuel. Another source of irritation is when the tether is too short, which will not allow the cap to be removed or replaced with ease. For these reasons, not all new automobiles incorporate such a device.
After-purchase accessories have been developed which are intended to solve these problems, but no adequate accessory has yet been found. For example, magnets have been attached to the inside surface of the automobile fuel tank access door so that the gas cap can be magnetically held in place during the refilling process. However, such magnets are generally either so weak that they cannot safely secure the gas cap or so strong that the gas cap cannot be removed without exerting forces on the access door and its operating mechanisms beyond those they were designed to take. A magnet will attract solid objects that could find their way into the fuel tank. Also, the possibility of a spark is a reality when ferrous metal is brought in contact with each other. The magnetic attraction of the cap could produce disastrous results. Furthermore, not all gas caps are now made of material that can be secured by a magnet. Similar difficulties are encountered with holders fixed to the inside of the access door having a slot or hole into which a portion of the gas cap is inserted in such a way that the device grips the gas cap. Insertion of the cap into the holder is generally not a very difficult process, but removal can be a task if the holder is successful in tightly grasping the gas cap. Either of these types of holder further has the irritable consequence of bringing the consumer's hands into contact with portions of the gas cap which impart the odor of gasoline to the consumer's hands, an odor which is not readily eliminated.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a gas cap holder attachable to the inside face of an automobile fuel tank access door into which a gas cap may be readily inserted and from which a gas cap can be readily removed. It is also an object of this invention that the insertion into or removal of a gas cap from the holder will not result in any appreciable forces being exerted on the automobile fuel tank access door or its operating mechanisms. It is a further object of this invention to provide a gas cap holder that minimizes the chipping and corrosion problems frequently encountered with such devices. And it is an object of this invention to provide a holder that minimizes the possibility of inadvertent fuel spills on the cap. An object is also the loss of the gas cap during refueling.